True Form
by Keroy
Summary: Ratatosk couldn't have always looked like Aster, so what was his original form?


Well, I haven't posted here in forever. I really do want to start writing more for FF, but everything I've posted here so far is stuff i'm not even proud of.

Okay, so this has been sitting around for... a year? About that. I just went through it today and edited it. I couldn't think of an appropriate ending so what I came up with is hopefully okay.

Oh, I want to credit Crow T R0bot, since he did give me the idea for this.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Tales of Symphona: Dawn of the New World.

* * *

"Leave me the hell alone!" Ratatosk shouted at the large group, his face was a bright shade of red.

"We're just curious!" Lloyd grinned at him.

"Curiosity killed the damn cat!" Snarled Ratatosk, he was obviously pissed off.

"But satisfaction brought it back." Marta chimed back, Ratatosk turned slowly to her. He glared at her, not threateningly, but it was scary enough to make Marta let out a weak laugh and take a step behind Emil.

Yes, now Emil and Ratatosk had their own bodies, they were basically twins with different colored eyes, but that didn't bother them after a while.

Ratatosk had taken to visiting occasionally, since these humans' lives will be so short compared to his he figured seeing them wouldn't set him back in his schedule down at the Ginnungagap too much.

But right now he was regretting this visit; they had chosen to go to Altamira since it was perfect for a good vacation with its beach and Amusement Park. But unfortunately, it started raining while the group was on the beach.

Now currently Ratatosk, Emil, Marta, Lloyd, Colette, Zelos, Sheena, and Genis were huddled under a Beach Bar since it had a large roof to shield them. Regal was back at his office, Presea had taken a part-time job as Klonoa so she was near the hotel, and Raine refused to come to the beach because of the water. Also she guessed it would end up raining but the rest did not wish to listen to her forecasts.

But back to Ratatosk detesting this visit, they kept pestering about a question he'd hoped they would never ask.

They asked him about his original form.

"Why don't you want to tell us, it can't be too bad?" Colette tilted her head as she asked the question.

"Maybe he's like one of those blobby monsters," Lloyd thought aloud.

"It has to be something powerful," Zelos grinned as he added, "like a wolf or dragon!"

"I hope it's something cute!" Colette clapped her hands together.

Genis blinked at Colette's comment, "eh… it's probably not cute Colette."

"What makes you say that?" Colette asked.

"Because he is," Lloyd took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "THE LORD OF ALL MONSTERS."

"Can't you change your shape, like Tenebrae?" Marta asked.

"I have this, and my original. I could change my form if I wanted to, but I don't." Ratatosk answered.

"Well, what's the original form?" Emil asked.

"None of you fricken' business!" Ratatosk yelled.

"Well, you've learned some censorship," Sheena commented sarcastically. It's true, Ratatosk cursed a lot, and he just recently began to try using substitutes instead of screaming the F word whenever he got angry. And anyone who knows him knows he gets angry. A lot.

Ratatosk's reply was a glare, another type of censorship instead of cursing.

"Pleeaaase, Ratatosk?" Marta asked in the cutest possible voice she could muster, along with puppy eyes.

Ratatosk flinched at the voice and expression; he could not let her stir him. He could not let this little mortal girl whip him.

"Just show us quickly? We'll be nice!" Marta continued to plead; Emil glanced down at his girlfriend.

"Marta, I don't think he's budging," Emil whispered to her.

Marta blinked at Emil, and then glanced to Ratatosk. "Sheena will flash you?"

"NO I WILL NOT." Sheena snapped, putting an arm across her chest with a red face.

Zelos let out a whooping sound, supporting the idea fully. Lloyd blushed slightly, glancing down at Sheena's chest, then back at her. Genis gaped as his face reddened at the mental image. Emil hit his forehead with his hand. Colette looked confused on the word 'flash'.

"Like a flashlight?" Colette needed to stop taking things so literally.

"No like Sheena's gold!" Zelos grinned widely. "The best part of the whole package."

Colette's expression showed that she did not understand.

Ratatosk gave Marta a flat look as she grinned at him.

"Nothing will make me want to change my mind." He told her.

"How about Marta flashes you," Sheena growled, as she punched Zelos in the face when she noticed he was staring openly at her chest which only had the fabric of a bathing suit covering it. Lloyd and Genis quickly looked away from Sheena.

Zelos rubbed his 'precious' face, "please! She has nothing to flash."

"Oh shut up!" Marta snapped with a red face.

"Nothing will make me change my mind," Ratatosk growled with a red face. He pushed any images of a topless Marta out of his head quickly. He groaned as they continued to try and persuade him.

"It can't be too bad," Genis commented.

"It is."

"Is it a bunny? Or a puppy?" Colette asked in excitement. Obviously she was hoping for a puppy-like Ratatosk.

"It better be if he's so unwilling to tell us what it is," Zelos snorted.

"The great LORD OF MONSTERS is actually afraid to show us his form?" Lloyd stroked his imaginary beard, "maybe it's too great for us to see it!"

"Or maybe he's being a child," Marta said loudly, sticking her tongue out at Ratatosk.

"I'm sure he has a good reason," Emil said, trying to stand up for Ratatosk.

"I don't need your help," Ratatosk glared at Emil who just sighed at his expected answer. "FINE! You people want to see? Really!"

"Really!" The other responded quickly, and leaned in.

Ratatosk hesitated, but he knew this is all they would ask about when he came around and he figured he should just tear the band-aid off. He took a deep breath, and disappeared into dramatic a puff of red smoke and as the smoke cleared…

A Red Squirrel stood in his place with intricate darker red markings painted along his body. His little squirrely ears had tuffs of black fur on them, and they were currently twitching in annoyance. He had a white mouth and nose, and the white continued down to his stomach. He had black markings on his arms, legs, and forehead. And finally, he had a huge, fluffy, cuddly, red tail.

There was a small awkward pause.

But it was a very small pause.

Because everyone had burst into fits of laughter.

Ratatosk growled loudly, which just caused everyone to laugh harder.

Ratatosk had realized his grave mistake in giving in. Because he was no longer scary or threatening to the group. He was CUTE.

"He's soooo cute!" Colette cried as she clapped her hands together happily.

"Looks like he's got his tail in a twist!" Genis choked the words between laughs.

"Probably because we keep rubbing his fur the wrong way!" Lloyd added as he gasped for breaths.

Marta and Emil couldn't say anything between their laughs, as the two that dealt with him the most during the journey this was unexpected, but very welcomed.

Zelos' laughs slowly calmed down, "so does this mean you're gay?"

"What the hell do you mean?" Ratatosk yelled, but his furry face, and cute little whiskers moving up and down took away anyway of that being scary.

"You love nuts so much!" Zelos choked out with a laugh, and some of the group continued to laugh. "Wait I have another one!" Zelos said with a grin, "why do squirrels swim on their back?"

"Why?" Sheena said, helping along the joke.

"To keep their nuts dry!" Zelos was really the only one who laughed at that. Sheena punished him with a hit to the back the head.

"Enough perverted jokes." Sheena growled.

"C'mon he's a SQUIRREL, the lines write themselves!" Zelos laughed.

"Your tail is so soft!"

Ratatosk froze as he felt Marta's hand run over his large tail; he could feel his under his pelt warm up. He was actually thankful for the fur that hid his blush, for once. "E-er?" Was the only sound he could muster at the moment.

"It feels like you use conditioner or something!" Marta chimed, as she moved her hand to stroke his head with two fingers. "Your head is soft too!"

Ratatosk was speechless.

Emil looked annoyed; he was not exactly supportive of his girlfriend petting the squirrel that obviously had a crush on her.

"You're so adorable Ratatosk!" Colette squealed, her eyes clued on the furry little creature. Ratatosk let out an annoyed sigh.

" Colette's right, you're adorable! Why didn't you tell us about this form sooner?" Marta said, resisting to huge the cuddly furry squirrel.

Ratatosk's ears twitched at the question, his eyes lowering. "I'm a goddamn squirrel. I knew you'd all laugh and ridicule me."

"So that's a no on any ribbons?" Marta asked with a giggle.

"No ribbons," Ratatosk confirmed to her. He shut his eyes enjoying Marta's gentle hand as it stroked his head.

"Awwww, can you stay this way?" Colette chirped, and Ratatosk noticed her voice sounded closer…

He slowly opened his eyes and saw Colette petting him instead of Marta. His ears flicked slightly, "no."

"Can I hold you?" Marta asked with a small tilt of her head.

His little red, now rodent, eyes searched her blue ones.

"Marta, I don't think Ratatosk wants you man-handling him." Emil said shooting Ratatosk a sharp look. He was trying to convey that he did not want that happening.

Ratatosk glanced at Emil, hiding a smirk behind a small cough. "Just for a little bit," he told Marta sternly.

Marta let out a happy, girly squeal as she placed her hands in front of Ratatosk. He hesitated slightly before climbing onto the girl's pale palms. Her fingers curled slightly around him. "I've never held a squirrel before."

Ratatosk said nothing in reply, he just allowed himself to get comfortable in her hands. He looked over at Emil, who was currently chewing at his lower lip. Was he really jealous? He was the one that got to go home with her, live with her, be with her. He was going to take this moment and he was going to enjoy it.

"Raine would love to take a look at you," Genis commented with a grin.

"Fuck no." Was Ratatosk's eloquent response.

"Ratatosk!" Marta scolded him and Colette threw her hands over her ears.

Zelos laughed loudly, "Well as fun as this, the sky is clear now. I'm going out to swim."

There was silence for a second as everyone looked out to see the sky with fewer clouds, the sun poking through to warm up the beach. Sheena declared loudly that she was going to tan, and if no one better dare disturb her. Lloyd, Colette, and Genis ran after Zelos to go tackling into the ocean.

Emil and Marta both look back at the little squirrel perched on her hands.

"So were you ever going to tell us?" Emil asked as he moved to sit on one of the bar's stools.

Marta moved her hand down to the bar, to allow Ratatosk to walk off of her hands. He glanced up at her quickly and then scurried onto the counter. Marta sat on a stool next to Emil's, which Ratatosk was glad that she didn't go and sit on his lap. The two were so cuddly and sweet with one another it was sickening.

"I wasn't really planning to. I was just hoping no one would ask me." Ratatosk said with an awkward shrug, which looked weird on a squirrel.

"Well someone had to wonder what you looked like before everything happened." Marta commented as she watched Ratatosk with a large amount of curiosity. It was interesting to see him speak, since the monster's they had on their journey were silent.

"You didn't really have to change," Emil commented as he poked Ratatosk lightly in the side. His flinched and then scratched his stomach with his back paws. His red eyes narrowed at the green-eyed boy.

"You people are persistent. And annoying, mostly annoying. I didn't feel like being bothered about it every time I visited. Though the reaction wasn't… too bad." Ratatosk spoke, rambling slightly. His tail curled around his body and he absentmindedly rubbed down his tail fur.

"Aww," Marta cooed. "You're so cute."

"Which form do you prefer?" Ratatosk asked, looking up at her with big red eyes.

Marta hesitated for a moment, since Ratatosk and Emil are physically the same as humans. "They're both cute," she said hoping it was an appropriate answer.

Emil glared at Ratatosk, again. That seemed to be all he was doing, so he let out a small sigh. He told himself to calm down, so what if she thinks Ratatosk is cute? Ratatosk looked like him, so really she was saying he was cute. But Ratatosk had red eyes and he slouched and he was just… Ratatosk. The aura he carried around with him should shift him from cute to… to not cute.

"Can you turn back or does it wear off?" Marta asked, snapping Emil out of his irrational thoughts.

"I can turn back whenever I want." Ratatosk replied glancing to the side. "But… eh… I'm naked when I do."

Marta's face lit up red and she made a small questioning sound. Emil just stared at the little squirrel in confusion.

"Why would you be naked?" Emil blinked.

"You two are not very observant." Ratatosk sighed as he hopped off the bar counter and onto the wooden floor. He crawled over to the spot he had once stood as a human. He scurried back, climbing up a stool and then hopping back onto the counter. In his mouth was a pair of swimming trunks. He dropped them and then rubbed his mouth with annoyance. He already missed opposable thumbs.

"Oh," Marta squeaked when she realized he had become too small for his bathing suit to fit him. It only made sense but she couldn't help but blush.

"Why are you guys here? Come out and swim!" Zelos said as he popped he entered the shaded area of the bar.

Marta smiled at him and hopped off her stool. She grabbed Emil's hand and began to pull him away from Zelos and Ratatosk. She was saying something about teaching Emil to surf and Emil insisting that he did not need to learn that skill.

Ratatosk sighed and then looked at the red head. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say, there are so many wonderful things you can do. Think about it, you can turn into a creature that's not even a foot long whenever you want." Zelos grinned simply at the thought of it.

Ratatosk stared at Zelos, slowly repeating the ex-chosen's words in his head. "Pervert," was the only appropriate thing he could think of.

"Just helping you see the bright side of being a squirrel." Zelos said with a bark of laughter.

"You'd be a cool guy if you would kick the womanizing."

"Sheena tells me the same thing! But I would be having a lot less fun with my life."

Ratatosk sighed; there was no one on this planet that could talk Zelos out of being… Zelos.

"Shouldn't you go out and bother someone else now?" Ratatosk snarled at Zelos, glad his voice didn't get high-pitched with his smaller form.

"Good idea, I'm going to go see what happens when I disturb Sheena." Zelos cackled slightly as he grabbed a water bottle and ran away.

Ratatosk let out an exasperated sigh as he pushed his swimming trunks off the bar counter. He sighed as he looked over to watch the others play. Lloyd, Colette, and Genis were building a pretty ugly sandcastle. Sheena was now strangling Zelos, spitting insults at the idiot. Marta and Emil were sitting on surf boards in the ocean. Emil looked freaked out as he kept losing his balance and falling into the water.

His eyes rested on Marta and he let out a little sigh. Being the 'demon lord' was not easy. He thought to himself as he jumped behind the counter into his bathing suit. He was grateful to be back in his human body, but he knew he'd probably be back in squirrel form tonight when Regal, Presea, and Raine heard about this. He shivered slightly at the thought of his feet being prodded and Raine's desire to dissect him. He stood up and looked back over the group of friends.

He eyes fell on Marta again, being in love with a mortal girl? Definitely not something he expected to happen. Not something he really wanted to happen. He let out a loud sigh as he ran his hand over his face and through his blonde hair. He needed to get a fucking grip.

"Hey!" Marta's voice almost made him jump out of his skin. She was yelling from the ocean. "Come on squirrel boy! I can teach you too!"

He looked over at Emil, who had just fallen over again and was trying to readjust himself on the surf board. Marta waved at him to come over and he gave a small wave back as he made his way towards them.

Might as well have some fun before Raine tries to dissect him.

* * *

R & R

Well there you go, hope you enjoyed it. Even if it did get iffy in some area's. It always sucks when you have a good idea and a very hazy idea how to actually end it. Though it is tempting to write some squirrely adventures for Ratatosk.

OH and if you don't understand why his original form is a squirrel... well read some norse mythology and it makes sense.

Hope you enjoyed! 


End file.
